Anakin Skywalker battles Obi-Wan Kenobi amid rivers of burning lava on the planet Mustafar. Young Skywalker has fallen to the dark side of the Force and now sees his former friend as his enemy. He engages Obi-Wan in a fierce Lightsaber duel that pits two skilled warriors against one another.

In 2012 the Movie Heroes line came to a screeching halt. But this was the case for most products released for the Star Wars [The Phantom Menace 3D] product launch to support the release of The Phantom Menace in 3D in theaters for the very first time. There is no way to deny that the Movie Heroes line was dead on arrival with the first wave. Hasbro dug deep into their old sculpt catalog and assembled a wave of figures that most Star Wars fans didn’t need to see again, especially not at the high MSRP they commanded. We recap all of that to say that by the time the fourth wave should have released at retail, Hasbro canceled the line and very few units of the final wave made it out. The final wave was produced in significantly lower numbers. In fact, this fourth and final wave never made it to North America. Most units of these international case assortments ended up in Germany, and very few Star Wars collectors were able to secure them. The long story short is that the final wave of figures are rare and Hasbro has done their part get 50% of the final wave back out (75% if you count the repainted figure). The irony here is that the 2013 Movie Heroes line was also released only to the international market. So American collectors are out of luck once again. The only saving grace is that other parts of North America received this wave so these figures should be a bit easier to attain this time around. One of the figures re-released is Anakin Skywalker with light-up lightsaber feature. Let’s check out this re-release a little more closely.

Frankly, the Movie Heroes line doesn’t have the articulation we like to see, but the line has grown on us, and we have developed a fondness for them that we never thought we would. Anakin Skywalker isn’t the greatest action figure Hasbro has produced by far, but the figure has some merit because the sculpt is decent and the play feature is welcomed. You just have to accept that it isn’t a figure made for collectors. The articulation system of the figure is a bit strange. For example, the figure comes with swivel shoulders and a left arm that doesn’t articulate fully because of the electronics inside of it, but yet has ball-jointed knees. Articulation like this allows you to pose Anakin Skywalker is some action-oriented poses, but you are severely limited when it comes to him wielding his lightsaber. You obviously cannot switch hands when it comes to the lightsaber. The hilt is permanently molded as part of the sculpt. Also, unlike Darth Vader (MH01), the blade isn’t removable which is a setback when it comes to storing this figure. The lightsaber blade is going to be bend and possibly damaged. We’re just trying to make it clear that this action figure is limited. Fans of Anakin Skywalker are likely going to want to secure this figure for their collections, but aside from the light-up lightsaber technology here, the figure doesn’t offer that much else to the basic figure line. The button to light-up the blade is worked well into the sculpt too. It is executed nicely.

The all-new sculpt is decent and the articulation is pretty much what you’d expect for the Movie Heroes line. The light-up lightsaber is a special effect to help pad their “light-up action feature” assortment of action figures which has gone over quite well by collectors and Hasbro has been adding as many as they can into the line. We feel that the head sculpt of Anakin Skywalker is not nearly as good as 2008’s TAC Darth Vader (08 02) figure, but again, this is a kids’ figure designed with them (and not adult collectors) in mind. As part of the 2013 Star Wars [Attack of The Clones/Revenge Of The Sith 3D] “Yoda” line look, Movie Heroes has continued with a new numbering system. Anakin Skywalker is labeled as MH02. Between the cancellation of the Legacy Collection “2” line to the limited releases of The Clone Wars and Movie Heroes lines (being only available outside of the USA), 2013 just hasn’t been a great year for collectors. Although this Episode III Anakin Skywalker is the first figure in the new lineup, most of the other characters have an Episode II focus as they were planned to accompany the 3D release of Attack Of The Clones in theaters which was scrapped altogether. We hope this figure eventually gets the distribution it deserves. After all, Star Wars collectors tend not to do well when action figures are outside of their grasps. The Galactic Battle Game was discontinued for the 2013 lineup. So this version of Anakin Skywalker doesn’t come with the Galactic Battle Game card either.